The NEGOTIATIONS in the NUPTUALS
by etakkate
Summary: Who says life is without compromise?  B&B sort out their differences on a passionate topic. ONESHOT/COMPLETE


**Takes up where I imagine season seven will begin. Please enjoy! i am a little nervous about this one!**

Suffering the loose lipped effect of endorphins and her love scented skin wrapped in his morning-warm sheets, the words slipped out on a breathy sigh before Booth could reel them in, "Marry me."

Brennan drew back from Booth's lips as her eyes went wide, "Booth… are you proposing?"

His smile shrunk nervously. Suddenly sobered, he tucked a lock of bed hair behind her ears. Denial hadn't worked so well in the past for Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan so he decided to bite the bullet and tell the truth, "Yes. I want to marry you Bones. I want our baby to be born into a family with two parents who love each other enough to be committed to one another. I want to be your husband."

She sat up, dragging the sheet with her, "No, no, Booth I…"

"No?"

"Booth…"

He instantly withdrew from her as that ever hurtful two letter word reignited a fire of rage in his belly. Booth stood, stumbling slightly with his angry effort to clothe himself and cut Brennan off before she said it again, "Why not? What would be _so damn_ bad about having me as a husband? Is there something that someone's not telling me here because, God, Bones, out of everyone, I thought _you_ would know what this means to me!"

Panic and dread washed over Brennan and her heart pounded double time with the thought that he was so angry at her, "I do Booth, I do… and I can see you're upset. Please… just allow me to formulate a response that properly explains my reasoning and we can discuss…"

"Forget it Bones, I get it. Just… lock the door on your way out" With a parting look of hurt tinged anger, he left the room.

With the slam of the front door, shock turned to despair and the dam of tears burst forth. Temperance Brennan, world renowned Anthropologist and Author dissolved into a heaving flood of sobs.

She cried out her frustration because she had hurt him… again.

She cried out her anger over his lack of faith in her commitment to him.

She cried out her grief – because to lose Booth would be akin to losing herself and, given his past proposals, she knew that this was the end.

She cried for her unborn daughter – that she would not know the solid foundations of a loving family.

And she cried over the fact that she was caught in the blinding cocktail fog of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, oestrogen and progesterone. On many levels this was the thought that got to her the most. Despite the fact that she loved her baby and was excited beyond words about the impending birth, the lack of control she had over her emotions rocked her foundations and compromised her confidence.

Booth had always been her moral (and social) compass but, even more so throughout this overwhelming time of change, she had come to rely upon his knowledge of her to guide her to a larger degree.

She trusted him implicitly.

But the relationship, the baby – it had all happened so fast. Not even eight months before, he had wanted all this with someone else completely.

Brennan wondered if it was fear or fact that prompted her to decline his proposal. Never one to ask for help, she contemplated simply accepting things for what they were but that thought alone caused her chest to squeeze and spurred another flood of hot tears.

No, their relationship deserved more than that and so, an hour later at almost 10am on a Saturday morning, Brennan stood unannounced at Angela's door, pot-plant in hand.

"Brennan! Oh, thank God for adult company! Come in!" Angela took the plant and ushered her in, "Honey it's really sweet and all, but I'm running out of spots to put these pot plants. Really Bren, you don't need to bring anything."

"Traditionally, it's polite to bear gifts when visiting uninvited. I would normally bring a bottle of wine but given that I am pregnant and you a breastfeeding – that would be inappropriate. Flowers are the second-most popular choice but a potted plant seems more practical given that they are less likely to wilt and die. I will bring chocolate next time – that is also socially appropriate. Where is Michael?"

"He's down for his morning nap. What's up Bren?" Angela folded her arms as her eyebrow rose in silent scrutiny at Brennan's slightly bloodshot eyes.

Brennan looked down, trust Angela to pick up her mood so quick, "I am sorry to just… turn up without warning but you seem to have a better understanding of people than I do and if ever I needed to rely upon your insight – it's now."

Brennan's voice broke on the last word and she was instantly wrapped in the arms of her best friend, "Oh, Sweetie, what happened?"

Brennan spoke between sobs into Angela's shoulder, "Booth proposed, I said no and before I could explain why he left."

Angela jerked her friend back to look at her face – still leaking silent tears, "Let me get this straight before I go kick his ass, Booth proposes to you - Commitment-Phobe, Temperance Brennan in all of your pregnant, hormonal glory then, when you don't say yes straight away, instead of discussing it like an adult, he throws a temper tantrum and leaves?"

"It sounds bad when you say it like that but, essentially, yes – that is what occurred this morning."

"I could kill him!"

"Please don't Angela. Even if he choses to terminate our relationship, I have always maintained that he is to be involved in our baby's life and I… I would miss him very much."

"Not being literal, Sweetie."

"Oh, you mean you will rough him up a little, give him a slice of your mind."

Angela chuckled lightly and pulled her in for a one armed squeeze, "This will all work out, sweetie. Meantime, I'll go get some chocolate and we can discuss how to fix this before little Mikey wakes up."

oOoOo

Booth was livid.

For the first hour of his self nominated work day he was angry with his stubborn, unmoveable, infuriating partner. He was damn angry with _every_ damn stubborn, infuriating woman who had told him "no" and broke his heart. He was down right _furious_ with his crappy bad luck with women.

For the second hour – he hit the gym and pushed himself through the pain. The intensity was gratifying.

For the third hour – Booth upped the weights. As his muscles burned, his temper cooled and his thoughts turned to his unborn baby. His daughter. He wanted so much to do this right.

For the forth hour he warmed down and hit the showers. As he relaxed under the hot spray, Booth thought over Bones' and his eight year partnership. He thought of what they were and what they had become. He thought of going back to being "just partners"; of not sharing smiles of adoration as their baby girl takes her first step; of not laughing over family dinners; of not ever making love to Bones again. He smiled as remembered the night they had conceived and his chest hurt at the thought of giving that up.

Back in his office, by the fifth hour - Booth was livid again. He was slowly melting into a mess of self loathing – completely outraged with himself for potentially stuffing up the best thing that had ever happened to him – his conscience ripped his resolve to shreds as he slumped defeated in his chair.

Six hours after Brennan had left her doorstep, Angela stepped across the threshold of Booth's office with war written across her feminine features, "Feeling sorry for yourself, G Man?"

At the sound of her voice, his head sprung up in surprise, "Huh? Hey Angela, what do you want?"

She crossed her arms and shot him a 'you're-a-freaking-idiot-look'. "I want to kick your butt for hurting my best friend – that's what I want but I will settle for verbally vomiting on you!"

He ignored the venom in Angela's voice at the mention of Bones, "Did she talk to you?"

"Yes, Booth and that in itself is saying something. I've never seen her so upset." She shook her head as she paced the room menacingly, "What is your problem? You proposed to Hannah not even eight months ago without a thought to Brennan's feelings. Now, she thinks that you want to marry her under obligation because you got her up the duff.

Angela continued, her voice rising, "She's hormonal and having to deal with so many changes to her body and her life _and_ her independence. She's just beginning to realise that she can be in a relationship with you without the sky falling down and then you go and ask her to put aside _all_ of her fears; give up on her beliefs of marriage amidst all that's going on and then you throw a temper tantrum when she said no without even letting her give you an explanation!"

Angela pointed an accusing finger in his face, "I bit my tongue during the whole Hannah thing but, Booth, you need to man up and talk to her before it's too late or you are going to lose her!"

Suddenly he stood, his mouth a thin expressionless line. For one moment, Angela thought he would retaliate. But he simply nodded, "You're right."

"Damn right!" She took a deep breath and her voice softened, "Now go tell her Booth. She's at her place." He nodded, "And, go easy on her – every emotion is multiplied a hundredfold when you're pregnant."

oOoOo

Booth pounded on the door. Angela did say Brennan was at her place. Perhaps she was ignoring him – he wouldn't blame her but he couldn't go the night without making things right.

Thinking the worse, he made short work of unlocking her door and let himself in, "Bones, Bones it's me. Where are you, baby."

Finally reaching her empty room, he realised she was not home. Perhaps she had gone back to Angela's. He decided that he would go home, get changed, and then come back over when he had a better idea of what he was going to say. It couldn't be done over the phone.

oOoOo

By the time Booth made it to his room he was down to his boxers. Noticing her pregnant form on his bed, his heart sped and he breathed her name in relief. She was in his bed – that had to be a good sign right?

Brennan sprung upright at the sound, "Booth! I'm sorry I… I fell asleep."

He immediately sought to reassure her that he was not in the same mood that he had left her with and sat down tentatively on the bed, "Hey, hey, it's ok, stay there, Bones I'm…"

She spoke quickly over him, "Booth, I don't want to break up with you. I understand your religious beliefs and, whilst you may not think that I respect them – I do. I do. I just… there's been so much to take in this last year and I don't cope will with change, Booth."

She began to get teary again and he reached out to rub her arm, "I know baby, I know."

"I want to marry you, I see the benefits of marriage for children and for the family unit as a whole but I want to do this right Booth – when I have a little more control over my emotions. I want to do this right." With that, Brennan fell into his chest and sobbed.

"Bones, I am so, so sorry, baby. It was totally unfair of me to spring that on you today. I love you so much Temperance and if you never agreed to marry me – that would not change in the slightest."

Her wet eyes lifted to meet his, "That's just it Booth, I am confident in saying that I do want to marry you despite my previously held beliefs to the contrary. But, I want us both to be sure – without the influence of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin and excess amounts of oestrogen and progesterone and not due to a guilty religious conscience. I don't want to rush things any more than what they have been nor do I want us to have an armed wedding."

Booth looked at her curiously, "An armed wedding?"

"Whilst I don't object to having security personnel at our wedding – Given my socio-economic status it would be wise, Angela informs me that an _armed wedding_ refers to one that is performed under obligation to hide a pregnancy that was conceived outside the bounds of marriage. Though, anyone with a basic understanding of the human gestation period would not be fooled."

Booth laughed and wrapped her in his arms, "God, I love you – you beautiful mother of my baby! It's a shotgun wedding, Bones. A _shotgun_ wedding!"

"Yes, that's what she said. Angela also suggested that I propose a compromise."

"She did, did she?"

"Yes, she suggested that we become engaged to be engaged. Essentially it's the same as being engaged but is does not carry the typical fanfare of a proper engagement. Once I give birth, we have settled into parenthood and my hormones have returned to normal, we can revisit the idea of making it official."

"Bones," he shook his head with an awed smile, "I don't deserve you and I am so, so sorry for my stupidness today but, damn, woman, I love you!" He gently took her face in his hand and kissed her, "I love Angela too." He smiled cheekily, "Did she make any more suggestions?"

Brennan smiled impishly into his lips, "Mmh hmm… she mentioned something about hot, sweaty make up sex."

He chuckled deeply, "I agree with her there."

"I don't"

He pulled back a little, careful not to offend the pregnant woman, "No?"

"No."

"Why not?"

She gave him a self conscious crooked smile, "Well, I kind of prefer the idea of making love."

Finally they were in agreement.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for making it this far! Please let me know your thoughts.<strong>

**Take care, Kate.**


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